THE soaring yen is sure to have an impact on local prices for Japanese hi-fi and video products, but the stronger currency is not all beer and skittles for companies who produce their goods in Japan. An increasing number of Japanese firms are moving production lines off-shore to countries such as Mexico to beat rising costs and stay competitive in traditional markets. The Pioneer Electronics hi-fi, video and car sound conglomerate is no exception.
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However, one operation the company won't find easy to relocate is the Pioneer Cone Corporation, which makes cones for loudspeakers and is likely to stay nestled in its idyllic rural setting beneath snow-capped mountains, at Mogami, in the north of Japan's main Honshu island. Apparently, you can't just set up shop anywhere and begin churning out sought-after, pedigreed speaker cones at the drop of a hat. This cone factory relies on bountiful supplies of water but not any old water.
Mogami's clean pure water ideal for manufacturing paper speaker cones abounds 100 metres below ground level where natural caverns are replenished by expanses of melting snow on nearby mountains. According to engineers at Pioneer the pH factor of the water at Mogami is also unique to the area and contributes significantly to the classic sonic quality and reliability of the paper cones that are produced there. As might be expected, many of the speaker cones find their way into loudspeaker systems used in Pioneer's own extensive range of hi-fi audio and in-car sound products but the corporation also customises cones for other manufacturers, including many of Pioneer's competitors who market their hi-fi audio and in-car sound equipment under different brand names.
At Mogami the water is used to blend and dye various combinations of up to 38 types of carefully selected wood pulps and fibres to create as many as 500 new cone materials. Pulps used in the process are imported mainly from Canada and Finland and are selected for special characteristics such as their density and fibre content, which are critical to the end product's musicality, depending on the application. According to Pioneer, each blend lends unique timbrel qualities and durability to the end product.
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A mind boggling variety of samples from past production runs for the corporation's customers around the world is kept stored at the factory, for sampling and test purposes. Speaker cones of all shapes and size, from tiny tweeters to huge subwoofers, are formed on dies, which are also made in the plant. Various wet and dry, and hot and cold processes that best suit the respective applications of the end product are chosen to press and dry the cones before they are trimmed to size. Subwoofer cones receive special treatment that kills off or limits unwanted high-frequency response, which would otherwise color their bottom-end performance, while cones for speakers destined to spend their life inside car doors where they are vulnerable to the effects of moisture receive a weatherproof coating.
Where physical torture of speakers is likely for example, exposed to heat, humidity and ultraviolet radiation for long periods inside automobiles the cones and surrounds are formed from injection- moulded polypropylene and other synthetic materials. These are also being produced in greater numbers at the Mogami factory. With the rising cost of paper, it is conceivable that synthetic cones could eventually become cheaper to make than their paper counterparts, but, as a Pioneer official assured me, the sonic quality of paper cones virtually assures their future, especially for audiophile and other hi-fi applications.
By way of an interesting byproduct, pulp-blends used at the Mogami factory to make paper speaker cones that will be hooked up to a hi-fi amplifier or public address system to make noise, is also used in the manufacture of acoustic tiles to deaden sound. Cone material must have a high acoustical loss so that sound is prevented from travelling within the cone and causing distortion. The high-loss, or absorptive factor required in the cone for that purpose is equally effective for tiles. The tiles would normally be applied to walls and other surfaces to reduce noise and reverberation in a sound studio or an excessively "live" room, or other noisy area.
A super oil-absorbent sheet, which helps in the prevention of water pollution, is another innovative product turned out at the cone plant. Speaker cones at Pioneer can and do end up in interesting places. Not all are assigned to prestigious audiophile products such as the company's Model SU4-UK hi-fi loudspeaker enclosures. For instance, at Tendo City in Japan some of the healthiest roses you're likely to see, and scent, are being cultivated in Pioneer's "Miracle Farm" hydroponics system. The roses there are encouraged by sound, to grow under controlled conditions in a series of experiments conducted using the application of vibration and magnetism. Pioneer's Bodysonic driving unit was used in the vibration tests.
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Bodysonic is an armchair that has inbuilt drivers that literally bathe your body in subsonic bass while you listen to the upper parts of the music spectrum through speakers or headphones. The company expects to create a new era in plant cultivation. More details about Pioneer Products: Pioneer Australia P/L, 178 Boundary Road, Braeside, Victoria 3195, telephone Freecall 1 800 338 439. Les Cardilini attended on-site media briefings in Japan at the invitation of Pioneer Electronics Australia. CLOSER to home, a 13cm injection moulded polypropylene cone in Pioneer's space saving hideaway car sound subwoofer model TS-WX50 tucks snugly away out of sight and safer in the hub of a spare wheel. The TS-WX50 (above) spare tyre enclosure suits most 13-inch (33cm) or larger wheel sizes.
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The five-litre, Tandem Duct Bass Reflex enclosure is self contained and is easily installed in most vehicles without taking up valuable space elsewhere. Power handling is rated at 150 watts, maximum. Bass sound launched through the tandem ducts on the TS-WX50 is normally undeterred by the thin floors and boot walls that are typical of many vehicles. An audition of a system using the Pioneer TS-WX50 in a small hatchback (pictured right) left no doubt that the spare tyre subwoofer was alive and well under the floor in the back. Rated frequency response is 35-2,000 Hz and the impedance is four ohms. The TS-WX50 was recently released for sale in Australia.
